What is Minimum Viable Compliance?
Minimum Viable Compliance (MVC) is Trace's term for a climate disclosure that fully meets AASB S2 and stands up to assurance, without voluntary extras. MVC is a philosophy that uses the flexibility built into the ASRS regime to separate what is essential in each reporting year from what is nice to have, so your reporting matures over time. Minimum unnecessary work, not minimum quality.
Why minimum viable compliance matters
AASB S2, the climate standard within the Australian Sustainability Reporting Standards (ASRS), applies to financial years starting on or after 1 January 2025. It is a standard, not a rule book: it sets out what must be disclosed but leaves a lot open to interpretation. Reporters, auditors and advisers are all still learning from the first year of reports what good looks like.
In that uncertainty, climate reporting tends to grow. Teams add metrics, frameworks and narrative because they are unsure what is enough, and every extra statement has to be evidenced, reviewed by the board and tested in assurance.
Trace exists to make climate reporting simpler and less of a burden. MVC gives you a clear line: Everything the standard asks for. Nothing it doesn't.
What minimum viable compliance means in practice
A philosophy, not a fixed method. MVC is not a checklist that works the same way for every organisation. It guides the decisions in each reporting year: what is essential now, what can wait until your reporting matures, and where your time is best spent. The answers depend on your size, sector, existing work and what your auditor expects, so two organisations applying MVC can reach different, equally compliant disclosures.
Every requirement is addressed. MVC never skips a disclosure. All four pillars of AASB S2 (governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets) are covered regardless of your size.
Depth matches your circumstances. AASB S2 allows you to use reasonable and supportable information available without undue cost or effort, and to take your skills, capabilities and resources into account in areas such as scenario analysis. A mid-market company is not expected to produce the same analysis as a major bank.
Qualitative where quantitative is not yet possible. Where you cannot yet put a reliable number on something, such as the financial effects of a climate risk, you disclose it qualitatively and explain why. That is compliant. Silence is not.
Nothing is left blank. If a requirement does not apply, say so. For example: "The entity does not currently use an internal carbon price in its decision-making." A deliberate statement is compliant. A gap looks like an oversight.
No voluntary extras. Content the standard does not ask for adds cost and gives your auditor more to test. If you want to say more about your climate work, it can sit outside the lodged disclosure.
Proportionality is not the same as transition relief. Transition reliefs are time-limited and apply in your early reporting years. Proportionality is permanent and scales with your circumstances. MVC uses both, but only proportionality lasts. Read more about Proportionality and Relief here.